Science Fiction 9
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SCIENCE FICTION 9 "normal." The relative paucity of famous As a self-conscious body of litera- homosexualscientistsprobably stemsfrom ture, sf arose in the Anglo-American world the fact that one does not have much in the 1920s and 19309, when it found a information on the affectivelives of inves- vehicle for short stories in pulp magazines tigators of natural phenomena, because and an audience among male adolescents. such aspects are thought irrelevant to the As such sf "predictions" as the atomic "objectivity" of science. Yet, as indicated bomb became reality in the 1940s, the at the outset, the older picture of science as genre became increasingly respectable, a seamless web of dispassionate inquiry is developed an adult readership, and be- yielding to a more nuanced picture, in came able to economically sustain book- which science draws closer to the arts. As length works by talented writers. This this newer approach takes hold, one may expansion continued at a slow but steady expect to learn more about the emotional pace into the 1960~~when an explosion of commitments of individual scientists and interest in space travel (accompanying the the way in which these commitments in moon landing program) and science in turn interacted with their creativity and general raised interest in sf to the point the larger world in which they live. where it became a major part of popular Richard Dey culture, generating films of mainstream circulation (such as 2001: A Space Odys- sey], television series (suchas "Star Trek"], SCIENCEFICTION and scholarly scrutiny. Today it is one of Although the definition of "xi- the most popular genres of fiction in the ence fiction" has eluded any real consen- English-speakingworld,,has spread to many sus either inside or outside the field, for other languages (notably Russian], and is present purposes science fiction will be the subject of hundreds of academic treated as a literary (and lately, cinematic, courses. Sf also boasts a highly organized television, and musical) genre which ei- and very vocal fandom constituting what ther speculates on life in the future lor almost amounts to a subculture in itself. "alternative universes" of the present or By its nature, sf tends to posit ~ast)orinwhichtheextra~olatedors~ecu- alternatives to contemporary societies, lated effects of advances (or declines) in their assumptions, and their mores, while science and technologl' are important ele- remaining rooted in the cultures of its ments to the story. With this definition writers and readers. ~t should not be sur- the article excludes the major genres of prising, then, that sf has on the one hand fantasy and horror. dealt imaginatively with issues of sexual- Considerations. ity, sexism, and sexual orientation, por- times called "speculative fiction," "sf" (as traying contemporary assumptions about it is commonly referred to)is a genre of the these topics as time-and-culture-limited modemageofscience~thoughsomewould rather than universal, and on the other traceitsroots backtosuch "fantasy travel" hand has had its share both of invisibility writersasthesecond-centu~ greek for non-heterosexual characters and of Lucian, True History takes him homophobic stereotypes. Since the 1970s, a homosexual kingd0m On the A the former tendency has become domi- wider circle of opinion credits Marl' W. nant, aided by a good number of acknowl- Shelley's Frankenstein (18181 with being edged gay, lesbian, or bisexual writers; it the first sf work, showing a genuine con- is not too to say that in the 1980s~ cem for the effects of science on human- homophobia is no longer considered ity. Jules Verne (1828-1905) and H. G. form" in sf, Wells (1866-1946)areotheroft-citedfound- Historical Development. During ers of rhe genre. the "pulp period," sexuality in general was 4 SCIENCE FICTION largely neglected, the subject not being which Sturgeon posits a one-gender soci- considered suitable for adolescent litera- ety; the homophobic attitudes of a hetero- ture, and the magazine editors serving as sexual male brought into this society are effective censors. As the demographics of unfavorably depicted. the readership broadened, it became pos- There matters rested until 1967, sible to include characters who were more when SamuelR. Delaney, a blackgay writer or less undisguised homosexuals,but these, and winner of four Nebula Awards and one in accordance with the attitudes of the Hugo Award, started playing with alter- times, tended to bevillains: evil, demented, native sexuality in his Ace novel The or effeminate stereotypes. The most popu- Einstein Intersection (using semi-alien, lar role for the homosexual was as a deca- semi-human hermaphrodites) and the dent slaveholding lordling whose corrupt Nebula-winning short story "Aye, and tyranny was doomed to be overthrown Gomorrah," which posits the develop- by the young male heterosexual hero. ment of neutered human "spacers" and Lesbians for good or bad remained nearly then depicts the "fre1ks"-people who invisible. become sexually oriented toward the It fell to Theodore Sturgeon, one spacers. In this work the concept of of the most noted sf writers of the 1950s)to sexual orientation is examined with the provide the first positive portrayal of desired distance attained by imagining a homosexuals in a 1953 story "The World new one. Well Lost," published in the June issue of Delaney followed this in Novem- Universe. Coming at the height of the ber, 1968, with the dazzling Hugo- and homophobic hysteria of the McCarthyite Nebula-winning short story, "Time Con- period, this story featured a pair of homo- sidered as a Helix of Semi-precious sexual-androgynous aliens who, exiled Stones." This picaresque tour de force from their homeworld, arrive on earth. At featured two human males, H. C. E. and first their gender remains unknown and the teenage sexually masochistic singer Earth's population fawns on them, dub- Hawk, who are still friends after having bing them "lovebirds," but when the truth once been intimates. is discovered they are sent back where Enter Ursula K. Le Guin, a mildly they would face execution. I[n the end, feminist writer, who in 1969 startled the sf however, the pair is rescued by a spaceman world with her Ace-published novel The who is a closet homosexual. This land- Left Hand of Darkness. This book, which mark story is typical sf in criticizing con- won both major awards and quickly gained temporarymores (here,homophobia) while the stature of an all-time classic of the undermining the threat to the reader (and genre, broke all previous molds in depict- the current censors) by recasting the pro- ing a planet whose people are sexually tagonists as aliens. neuter most of the time, but who ran- A step backwards to homophobic domly turn male or female for a few days attitudes was Charles Beaumont's 1955 each month. story "Thecrooked Man," aPlayboy piece After Le Guin's searching exami- which inaugurated a long line of stories in nation of sex roles and orientations, the which homosexuality is portrayed as the field was wide open for further explora- social norm for one reason or another. tion; the coming of the "gay liberation" Sturgeon came back in 1957 with "Affair period starting with the 1969 Stonewall with a Green Monkey," examining social Rebellion led to a relative flood of works stereotyping of homosexuals (again with looking at unconventional sexualities. an alien as the subject]. It remained only for Delaney to By 1960 Pyramid was ready to break the last barrier, depicting homosex- publish the book-length Venus Plus XIin ual lovemaking on the part of his bisexual SCIENCE FICTION 4 male hero, the Kid, in his 1975 Bantam Darkover books The Heritage of Hastur novel, Dhalgren. (1975) and The Forbidden Tower (1977), In the cinema, where science fic- which link homosexuality to telepathy; tion has been flourishing commercially William S. Burroughs' The Wild Boys (1971) since at least 1969, the absence of homo- and Blade Runner (1979); the classic sf sexuality has been nearly complete. writer Arthur C. Clarke's Imperial Earth Logan's Run (19761, depictinga future city (19751, in which the hero brings back from in which homosexuality is casually ac- Earth a clone of his lost lover; Joan Cox's cepted, stands out as an exception. Mindsong ( 1979);Delaney's hallucinogenic Authors. A number of the most Dahlgren (see above); Thomas M. Disch's prominent writers working in the field of On Wings of Song (1979);Zoe Fairbairns' sf have been publicly identified as gay, Benefits (1979)) a feminist work set in lesbian, or bisexual. Two of these, William Britain; M. J. Engh's Arslan (1976), in which S. Burroughs and Gore Vidal, made their the title character, a modern Alexander reputations in mainstream literature but the Great, is bisexual and develops a long- have contributed important novels to the lasting affair with a schoolboy; Sally M. genre, such as Burroughs' The Wild Boys Gearhart's The Wanderground (1978))a (1971) and Vidal's Kalki (1978). Writers set of feminist stories with a common working primarily in sf who have reached background; David Gerrold's TheMan Who the very top of their field include Marion Folded Himself (1973)' in which the hero Zimmer Bradley (b. 1930, prolific author of uses time travel to make copies of himself the Darkover series of novels and also a which turn out to be ideal lovers; Leo P. frequent contributor to gay and lesbian Kelley's Mythmaster (1973))whose bisex- periodicals), Samuel R. Delaney (b. 1942 in ual protagonist opts for heterosexuality; Harlem, author of the Neverjion series and Elizabeth A. Lynn's A Different Light a frequent writer on gay themes), and (1978), in which another bisexual protago- Joanna Russ (b. 1937, a radical lesbian nist opts this time for homosexuality, and feminist and occasional contributor to The Dancers of Arun (1979))which fea- lesbian and gay journals].